Daily Update Formula1 News

These drawings illustrate the position of the two holes (bottom left drawing - highlighted in bright yellow) in the underbody of the Brawn, in the vertical section where the reference and step planes meet. These boost the efficiency of the rear diffuser, but also need careful gearbox and suspension...
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Just three cars look set to run KERS in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, after Renault and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica decided not to abandon the system for Shanghai.
Ferrari announced before the weekend that they would not be running KERS here following the reliability problems they experienced at the last round in Malaysia. Now Renault have also opted to drop their system after evaluating Friday practice data.
Kubica, who did not race KERS in either Melbourne or Sepang, also used Friday’s sessions to see if it could bring him an advantage at the Shanghai €nternational Circuit. However, with tyre degradation already proving an issue, the Pole found the additional weight only complicated matters and hence will not use it either.

Renault’s and Kubica’s decisions means that only the two McLarens and Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber are now expected to use KERS in Sunday’s race.
In further changes to Renault’s package, an interim revised diffuser was added to Fernando Alonso’s car ahead of Saturday’s final practice. However, the session did not go well for the Spaniard, who completed just six laps in the R29 and finished 19th in the times, 14 places down on team mate Nelson Piquet.
There were also technical issues at Red Bull and Toyota. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel suffered identical driveshaft problems on their RB5s, while Timo Glock faces a five-place grid penalty after transmission gremlins necessitated a gearbox change on his TF109.
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Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull Racing its first pole position in qualifying at Shanghai, ahead of the resurgent Fernando Alonso.
Mark Webber added to Red Bull's delight with third on the grid, while the hitherto dominant Brawns were back in fourth and fifth, Rubens Barrichello ahead of Jenson Button.
Vettel opted to make only one run in Q2 and Q3, yet topped both sessions, taking a dry weather pole to follow his pole in the rain at Monza for Toro Rosso last year.
Red Bull looked set to sweep the front row until Alonso split them, proving that Renault's rapidly-introduced updates were already paying off.

Webber was pushed back from first to third in the closing seconds, with Barrichello dropping to fourth having held provisional pole following the first Q3 runs.
Jarno Trulli completed the top six for Toyota, followed by morning pace-setter Nico Rosberg's Williams.
Kimi Raikkonen took eighth in his Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton producing his best qualifying performance of the season to take ninth for McLaren.
Toro Rosso's rookie Sebastien Buemi also enjoyed a breakthrough session, reaching Q3 for the first time and taking 10th.
Timo Glock's disastrous day continued. A new gearbox had been required after his practice failure, giving the Toyota a five-place penalty. Given that he only managed 14th in qualifying, that will translate to a back of the field start for the second time this year.
While Hamilton showed better form and Raikkonen at least maintained his Q3 run, their respective team-mates Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa both failed to reach the top ten, taking 12th and 13th, just 0.001s apart.
Also unable to match their team-mates' progress into Q3 were Williams's Kazuki Nakajima, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais and Renault's Nelson Piquet, who filled positions 15 to 17.
BMW had another poor afternoon. Nick Heidfeld only just squeezed into Q2 and then took 11th, while his team-mate Robert Kubica had the worst qualifying session of his Formula 1 career, managing only 18th and getting knocked out in Q1 for the first time ever.
Force India remained mired at the tail of the field, 0.7s adrift of the pack. Adrian Sutil out-qualified Giancarlo Fisichella for the first time in 2009, beating the Italian by 0.003s.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.565 1:35.130 1:36.184 11
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.443 1:35.803 1:36.381 21
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.751 1:35.173 1:36.466 19
4. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.701 1:35.503 1:36.493 21
5. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.533 1:35.556 1:36.532 19
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.308 1:35.645 1:36.835 21
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.941 1:35.809 1:37.397 23
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:36.137 1:35.856 1:38.089 19
9. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.776 1:35.740 1:38.595 17
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.284 1:35.965 1:39.321 21
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.525 1:35.975 14
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.646 1:36.032 10
13. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.178 1:36.033 11
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.364 1:36.066 14
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.673 1:36.193 13
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.906 10
17. Piquet Renault (B) 1:36.908 10
18. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.966 8
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.669 10
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.672 10

All Timing Unofficial
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Even with Brawn GP’s trick diffuser having been declared legal, championship leader Jenson Button expects to have to fight really hard for his Formula One hat-trick in Shanghai this weekend, as the Chinese Grand Prix moves to the third slot on the calendar for 2009.
“I am understandably delighted with how our season has begun, but we are only two races in and everyone at the team is aware that our competitors will not stand still,” the 29 year-old Englishman says. “We fully expect a tough fight from here if we want to continue our early successes.
Brawn, along with Toyota and Williams, come to Shanghai boosted by news that they can continue to race their disputed rear diffusers, after they were declared legal by the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on Wednesday. It’s a decision that leaves rivals scurrying to add similar designs to their cars as soon as possible - and one that leaves Button eager to get racing again before they have a chance to catch up.
“The Shanghai International Circuit (SIC) is an enjoyable one for the drivers and a good technical challenge to find the right set-up,” he adds. “I particularly enjoy the high-speed sections and the overtaking opportunities going into the tight right-hander at turn five and at the end of the back straight."

Meanwhile, after a high-powered meeting in Maranello, Ferrari have reacted to their disappointing start to the season - and their disaster in Malaysia - by making internal team changes. Team manager Luca Baldiserri has changed to a factory-based role, and his position at races will be taken by Chris Dyer, who was formally Michael Schumacher’s engineer and has recently acted as chief track engineer.
Baldiserri will now work with technical director Aldo Costa to fast-track developments on the F60. The pressure is really on Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who must score good finishes this weekend.
Likewise McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. “I really enjoy racing in Shanghai,” says the reigning world champion, who won the race last year. “The track is a good blend of fast and slow stuff and it throws up a few nice challenges for the drivers. Finding the right set-up is important, you need speed and balance through the high-speed corners but decent mechanical grip for the hairpins.
“We got it spot-on last year, and while I don’t expect us to enjoy that sort of performance advantage this season, I think we’re all looking forward to a good showing. Hopefully, some of the upgrades we’ve added to MP4-24 for this race will have a benefit: it would be very encouraging if we could qualify a little further up the grid and be regularly challenging for points.”
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh added: “We have reasons to be both disappointed and optimistic about our performance in the opening races: disappointed because we do not yet possess the necessary technical package to enable us to fight with the leaders, but optimistic that our rate of progress is sufficiently rapid that we should be able to fight for points finishes on a regular basis. This weekend’s race will see a number of new components introduced to MP4-24, and while we do not expect them to radically transform the car’s potential, they should move us a little closer to the front.”
Toyota, Williams and BMW Sauber are feeling more bullish about their chances this weekend.
"I am really optimistic about the Chinese Grand Prix because we have started the season very strongly,” Toyota’s Jarno Trulli says. “It shows how much progress we have made since last season that in Malaysia I was a little disappointed with fourth because I wanted to finish on the podium and fight for the win. Last year in Malaysia I finished fourth and that was more than we expected. We are second in the constructors' championship so it's clear we are one of the top teams and both Timo (Glock) and I have consistently been fighting at the front which is great. So the goal for me in China is to fight for the podium again and I think we have a really good chance.”
"Shanghai's a driver's track," says Williams’s Nico Rosberg, who led early on in Malaysia. "There's a great mix of corners and then there are those two long straights so plenty of overtaking opportunities around the lap which will be good for the racing. Sepang showed that the team seem to have fixed the problem we had last year on these types of circuits so it's now looking like we have consistency. I'm confident that we'll have another competitive weekend in China. Top eight for sure."
BMW Sauber, like Renault, will be hoping to exploit their KERS advantage (at least on Nick Heidfeld’s car) on the SIC’s long straights.
The track is 5.451 kilometres long and shaped like the Chinese character 'shang,' meaning 'high' or 'above'. It has an equal number of left and right turns - seven apiece - and presents several overtaking opportunities. Among them are Turn One and the corner at the end of the 1.1 km back straight where the cars brake from more than 320km/h on the section between Turns 13 and 14.
It is a low to medium-downforce track, and this weekend Bridgestone will be supplying their medium and super soft compound slick tyres, a combination which presented interesting challenges to the teams in Australia.
ref[formula1.com]
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